Transportable Rayleigh/Raman lidar for aerosol and water vapor profiling

摘要

A nighttime operating Raman/Rayleigh/Mie lidar system for the measurement of profiles of the water vapor mixing ratio and the aerosol backscatter ratio is described. The transmitter utilizes two laser beam at 532 nm and 355 nm from a Nd:YAG pulsed laser and the receiver consists of three Newtonian telescopes. Optical fibers carry the signal to the detectors. The system, which is installed in two containers, is transportable. Data are recorded with resoltuions of 75-m in altitude and 1-min in time. Water vapor profiles from 200 m above the lidar altitude up to the upper troposphere and aerosol profiels from 500 m up to the lower stratosphere were obtained also at the lowest resolution. The lidar was deployed nad used in the "Target Area of the Lago Maggiore" during the MAP - SOP international campaign (Sep - Nov. 1999). Measurements taken during that campaign are reported to show the lidar performance. Improvements of the system by employing an array of nine 50-cm diameter telescopes are planned. These should effectively enhance the lidar performance.